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We had a wonderful turnout for a fascinating meeting celebrating Black History Month. On February 17th, the LWVVC commemorated the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. This unprecedented protest by an estimated quarter million people helped to ensure the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This was the essential first step in guaranteeing equal rights to Americans of African descent.
To kick off the program, Brejoya Smarr, founder of the Daytona Beach Music Academy, and her daughters G'lia and Joyelle Foster, performed a beautiful acapela rendition of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a hymn often called the Black National Anthem.
The program speakers were two very different people who were at the March 60 years ago. Joe Lombard was a policeman at the time, one of the 1,500 black policemen (many from the NYPD Guardians Association) who came to the march at the request of the organizers to protect the marchers and prevent violence. The other speaker, David Ruffin, an 18-year-old from Pittsburgh, was home on leave from the Air Force when he was unexpectedly given a train ticket to Washington for the March. Mr. Lombard remembered his time at the March as uplifting, without even a hint of the violence that had been expected given the size and fervor of the crowd. Afterwards, he continued to serve the public as a police officer with the NYPD until his retirement. For Mr. Ruffin, the experience at the March was life-changing and propelled him toward a future career in journalism and public policy."
